ROCKS!
Yes - the game is short. First play through took me 7 hours. But it was so
damn engrossing that I did that first play through in a single sitting
(looks like the lawn will have to get mowed tomorrow). With a job, kids and
a house I'm actually really appreciative of a great game with a great story
that I can definitely beat in a weekend.
They could have easily artificially lengthened the game (too-hard enemies,
backtracking, fetch quests, etc) but didn't stoop to that. In total scope
the game is about as big as many adventure games ("Prince if Persia" comes
to mind) but is paced much more like a film.
I barely scratched the surface of the combat system and there are a lot more
unlockables. If you're into learning combos (there are a LOT of them) or
really want everything you could easily get 20 hours of it.
I've really only got a few other complaints:
The game really doesn't resemble "God of War" much except in one of its more
annoying aspects: the never ending, huge hike in difficulty ending. The
final three battles took over an hour. However I never had to try any of
them more than three times - the game wasn't obviously adjusting difficulty
but I think it might have been.
A few of the missions were pretty unforgiving but I never had to try any of
them more than twice. The enemy intelligence... isn't. But you don't miss
it that much since there are so many enemies at hand. It does get a little
trying during the boss battles however which are more traditional affairs
(series of attacks with specific counters).
Forgiving those the game is amazing. Although some people would probably
call the story "derivative" I prefer "archetypical". It's pretty standard
fantasy fare on the surface but well told with interesting characters. It's
also refreshingly clean with none of the "surprise twists" that pass for
emotional content these days.
The acting (and the translation of that acting to the digital characters) is
some of the best I ever seen. The facial motion capture works especially
well - there are a few hiccups but you only notice them because the rest is
so polished.
As is the rest of the game. The animations, the sounds effects, the music -
everything has a high-gloss sheen.
You play most of the game as red-headed Nariko wielding the titular sword.
There are some lengthy and AMAZINGLY fun segments played her endearing
psychotic friend Kai. Most of Kai's segments are shooting-gallery type
areas where you can use the "Aftertouch" (slow-motion steering) to plant
cross-bow bolts exactly where you want them (usually in the bad-guy's
groin).
The game's not all serious. There are great jokes, some of them pretty
subtle. For example you begin on mission (with a regular sword) with the
instruction "Defeat the enemies." When you retrieve the Heavenly Sword part
way through message changes to "Decimate the enemies".
There are some truly epic "wow" moments in the game. In one extended
segment you're fighting an entire army - several hundred characters on
screen at once. Later you become, let's say, unexpectedly powerful and your
literally wade through this army flinging dozens of soldiers at a swipe. In
less than a minute I completely obliterated just under a 1000 soldiers.
Due to the length I decided to rent the game instead of buying it, but as
soon as it hits the bargain bin I'll be picking it up permanently. I do
think it's probably worth $60 but with the stack of games I have un-played I
won't be putting in the time to master it. As it stands it's an amazing
game and easily beatable in a single rental period which is perfect for me
right now.
Jim Davis
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
Get the answers you are looking for on the ColdFusion Labs
Forum direct from active programmers and developers.
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/webforums/forum/categories.cfm?forumid-72&catid=648
Archive:
http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:242462
Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm
Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
